Lawrence Wilson
CNBC
Dow sinks 350 points to new 2018 low after Fed raises key rate
Thomas Franck and Sam Meredith 48 mins ago (Posted here 4:50 P.M., 19 Dec. 2018)
Social media gaint Facebook also fell sharply on Wednesday. Its stock fell more than 6 percent Wednesday after admitting it allowed other big tech companies to read users' private messages. The company's blog post came after a New York Times investigation found that Facebook gave companies including Netflix, Spotify and the Royal Bank of Canada the ability to read, write and delete users' private messages.
Further, the D.C. Attorney General said it would sue the company over the Cambridge Analytica scandal. (IF and I repeat IF this is True, it is absolutely great news. Think about it, if you use Netflix or Spotify or whomever, they can read and delete your private messages? And the Cambridge Analytica is only the beginning. Finally, Facebook may be brought to heel? It would be a day to remember to watch Mr. Zuckerberg wearing shiny, brand new bracelets as he and his higher level employees are escorted out of Facebook Headquarters? )
Thursday, Facebook still doing damage control, yet again. Watch the EU come after them.
Getting back to what passes for a City Council, Mr. Rogers than began his usual asinine comments. If someone has a Heart Attack in December, that goes into the rate in future. Same concerns in State PEIA. Costs have gone up, used to have a Cadillac Plan. Now Paying Deductibles. Than some example of what City Employees pay for their share of Insurance: A single person now paying 3.8% of Premium while City paying 96.2%. Family pays 6.4% while City pays 93.6%. (As a Federal Retiree, I pay 25% or more of my Premiums for just me and Spouse. So Mr. Elam cannot say again on Federal Perks- there are none in the Health area).
The City Employees get Insurance instead of Pay Raises. (Again he is not being Truthful). Will not get them to stay here, have to increase pay 3 or 4 times as much in order to away with Insurance. (He seems to just sit there and just lie and lie about issues, this is no exception?)
Mr. Elam: That is not what I meant. There has to be some way to get this under control? Hasn't changed since 1999. 14% of Budget goes for Insurance Benefits.
Mr. Rogers: I agree. Canada did it, England did it. Went to National Insurance. I don't know when it will happen? Especially when you get a President who says you have to have Insurance coverage. If not, it comes back in Income Taxes.
Mr. Conley: Question was when it goes to Insurance Company, how does numbers for 80/20 or 70/30 get answered as too cost? Deductibles/ out of pocket?
Mr. Rapp than explained: City does not have anyone versed in Insurance. (This is a primary function of a real Human Resource Department/ Director. City hired a person who at the first City Budget Meeting when hired asked for money to go to symposiums, forums, meetings, classes so she could learn the job. As is usual, the City hired someone not qualified to do what was hired to do. At the time I noted we could have gone to any of the local Colleges/ Universities and hired an H/R graduate, gave him/ her a couple of weeks to learn City Policies/ Procedures and than let them do the job. Here we are five years later and Department Head seems still cannot do the job? An excellent Graphics Designer, but seems still not a Human Resource Expert?) So we have gone to Schwendeman. They represent 100s of businesses for Policies. He goes out and gets multiple quotes from every company that is interested. Problem is time waiting for Fiscal Year cost ratio. Rate is based on Insurance Claims. Than we get a series of different deductibles and co-pays. Than we sit down with Schwendeman to look at best value for City Budget/ Employees? The estimates are based on Historical Claims. We get paperwork from Blue Cross, large amounts of papers for all options. But since we have less than 100 employees, Insurance does not to disclose data on how they get rates.
I thought I would get the Council Meeting done with this posting. But when I went through the above explanation, it was so unbelievable, I just shook my head. Allow me this:
1. The Human Resource Department abilities to do the job, or the lack thereof?
2. City went to Schwendeman to help with what has been a 20 year process of violating State Bidding Laws by just automatically renewing the Policy with Highmark/ Blue Cross/ Blue Shield for 13 or 14 of those years. Than in order to protect an alleged Sweet Heart deal as noted, maintain an alleged Quid Pro Quo and finally what seems to be an Insurance Policy that provided seemingly extraordinary Medical Coverage for Mr. Rapp, the Schwendeman, Vienna, Highmark Triangle for the past 6 years has been in play?
3. City has sat in Court in Case 17-C-337 with its Attorneys saying that Schwendeman does NOT go out to get Insurance Quotes from Providers. But in Truth, has just admitted it above.
4. City has said it gets large amounts of paperwork for all options each year, yet when in the above case I asked for Insurance Paperwork for the years in the Suit, I got as much garbage as I did anything with value. And just recently, received approximately 700 more documents that City swore up and down I had received in late 2017, but got just now from a FOIA specifically to a Company called CSSI, but instead from City H/R Department.
5. City provided me with documents that were clearly Historical Claim information when the City had only 63- 67 Employees, but now says does not get any. Data covered Prescriptions for individuals/ groupings, visits to various facilities for care and more. Will note that most if not all of it had little to do with what I was asking for in the August 2017 FOIA.
6. City does NOT look at best plans based on Budget/ Employees. In Fiscal Year 2012- 2013, City had an 80/20 payment schedule. For 1 July 2013- 30 June 2018 Fiscal Years, it was raised for just about everything to 100% across the board. Only in the 2018- 2019 Fiscal Year has it gone back to the 80/20 Schedule. I have noted before that in one of the years, a Company quoted four plans to the City. The WORST of the four was $312,000 LESS than what the City did pay to stay with Highmark that year.
7. State Auditor is supposed to have given what I believe are Unqualified Findings each year for the excellent Audits of the City Books? I have noted several times that the State does a poor at best Audit of what is going on in Vienna?
Mr. Conley and the State Auditor- Mr. McCuskey are seemingly joined at the hip? Mr. Conley and Mr. Elam have as noted several times to include above been advised of what is going on. They have chosen to NOT protect the City Residents/ Tax Payers from what could easily be a massive scam on Insurance costs going on for years? Documental Proof has been available to them Chapter and Verse, but no action. They have the Bully Pulpit, but seem to behave like the Walking Dead of TV fame? For sure will finish tomorrow. 'nuff said'.